


Unusual Allies

by motherbearof3



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: End Game post ep, F/M, I don't hate Peter Stone, If it goes on, Neither does Barba, Season 20, Stone's whole time at SVU has had a purpose, more tags to come as this goes on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 09:41:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18870637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/motherbearof3/pseuds/motherbearof3
Summary: After Peter Stone leaves Olivia Benson on the sidewalk outside the courthouse, experiencing a sense of deja vu, he makes an important phone call.





	Unusual Allies

**Author's Note:**

> I have been saying since S19E14 that I don't hate Peter Stone nor Phillip Winchester. I hated what he did to Barba. I hated that the SVU Powers That Be thought they could just do an ADA swap and expect us to like it. I hated that we were expected to accept a brand new character with open arms. 
> 
> I have some definite head canon about Stone, not the least of which that Barba would roll his eyes so hard at his boring wardrobe and be annoyed at how he just assumed he could call Olivia, "Liv" and I've expressed that in my fan fiction like Love's Boundary. But I also think Stone is a genuinely nice guy with good intentions who has been dragged into a completely different type of environment than he's used to and he has tried his best to adapt. 
> 
> Then when I saw Chernuchin's tweet of "I did it all for you, Liv." I got to thinking...maybe there's been something else going on all along.....
> 
> So this happened. Please let me know what you think!

Peter Stone strode into his offices past Carmen without a greeting; which was odd for him, she thought. When she heard the lock turn on his office door, she began to get an uneasy feeling. There had been talk around the courthouse that her boss of a little more than a year had broken a few rules in his effort to get Rob Miller back in jail. Then when word came from Judge Catano’s clerk that Miller’s attorney put Nikki Staines on the stand and she admitted to framing Miller, Carmen began to suspect the rumors were true. But then she heard the verdict came back guilty just the same. Now she wondered if she’d be breaking in a new ADA in the near future.

On the other side of the door, the tall ADA tore off his jacket and tossed it on a chair, then clawed at his tie as if loosening it would stop the suffocating feeling he’d had in his chest since Beigel called Nikki to the stand. Throwing himself into his chair, he yanked open the deep drawer where the bottle of whisky lived. He used to be a beer man. But since he took this job -- was pressured by McCoy and others to take this job -- he’d found the hard stuff made it easier to forget.

He poured a generous measure into the glass and took a healthy swallow, enjoying the punishing burn in his throat. He needed to be punished for the things he’d done. Then the former major leaguer reached behind where the bottle lived and tipped the false back of the drawer forward to reach into the small space behind for the cell phone that was hidden there. When he discovered the space, he knew it was the perfect place to keep the phone he’d been given more than a year earlier, with a single pre-programmed number. He sure as hell didn’t need questions about why he had two cell phones and the only person who opened this drawer besides him was McCoy and on those rare occasions, his boss was focused on the bottle at the front.

After another drink from the glass, he turned it on and hit send to the only number it had ever called; or received a call from. The voice that answered at the other end sounded surprised. He hardly ever called in the middle of a workday. Usually the calls exchanged between them were late at night when Stone was burning the midnight oil over some case. The ADA began to speak; his voice sounding almost desperate.

“I did what you asked. I kept her safe, but at too big a cost to myself. I can't do this anymore. I'm done.”

“Peter, we had an agreement,” the man at the other end of the line reminded him, keeping his tone even.

“Fuck the agreement. Tell the feds you need to come home. You can work for them just as easy here as there. Besides it wasn’t supposed to be this long.”

“That’s beyond my control. What happened? They found Miller guilty didn’t they?”

“Yes.”

Stone threw back the rest of the whisky and got up, walking to the window where he looked out at where he’d just been with Olivia. He hadn’t looked back, knowing for the second time someone had stood there with her and told her they were walking out of her life. The man at the other end waited, closing his own office door, knowing the younger one had more to say.

“But I can’t do this anymore. I fucking fabricated evidence to frame one of the most powerful men in the city.”

“Wait, you did what?”

“You heard me. And I got Liv’s detectives and Nikki Haines to --”

“Stop. Stop talking, Peter. Jesus Christ. All I wanted you to do was take care of her. Keep her from doing something stupid or let Dodds bully her into retiring.”

“I was. But she had to go and piss off Miller.”

Stone ran a hand through his short blond hair and paced the length of the window.

“Miller’s too good. No one would flip on him and we couldn’t find any real evidence to prove what he’s done. This was the only way.” He paused and played the card he knew would tip the hand in his favor.

“He was threatening them. Threatening Noah. You should have seen her. She was almost hysterical, thinking Miller was eventually going to harm Noah. If something happened to him again, she couldn’t handle it. You know that. It’s time to come back and take care of her yourself. She needs you. _They_ need you."

The silence at the other end told Stone his words had hit home. But just to reinforce them, he added quietly.

“She hasn’t forgotten about you, Rafael. Every time she comes in this office you can see in it her eyes.”

A sigh came over the line. Then a dry chuckle and a reply.

“You’re a real bastard, Peter. Keep the phone on you. You can pick me up when I arrive.”

***********

It was nearly 11 p.m. by the time Rafael Barba set foot in New York City for the first time in more than a year. He hadn’t a problem getting a ticket on a train from Washington D.C. as much as convincing his current employers that he needed to leave. He wasn’t quitting, he assured them. He just needed a short sabbatical or to be able to work from the Big Apple. Not wanting to approve the change in work venue right away, they agreed to a two week leave of absence. It wasn’t like he’d taken any time off in the 14 months, he reminded them, and said to make it four. Penn Station didn’t look any different than the last time he was in it. Mounting the stairs to street level, he saw Stone leaning against a black SUV with official plates parked at the curb. He knew the man wasn’t yet forty, but there were more lines on his face than there had been the last time they’d seen each other face to face. Such is the life of the SVU prosecutor, Barba thought wryly. Stone watched his predecessor approach. His hair was grayer and he sported a beard and mustache, but still cut the stylish figure in a three piece suit, with a bright pocket square that complimented the colors in his tie. In one hand was a briefcase. The other had the handle of sizable rolling bag. He released it to shake Stone’s hand.

“Peter. Thanks for giving me a lift,” said Barba.

“You didn’t give me much of a choice, Rafael,” countered Stone, before opening the back door and lifting the suitcase onto the seat.

Once they were both seated in the vehicle, he asked. “Where to?”

The luxury hotel Barba named made Stone’s eyebrows raise.

“Feds must be paying well.”

“Well enough. Now tell me what the hell you did.”

“Before I do, want to give me a hint why your new friends dropped the charges?” Stone asked. “If Miller hadn't been released, none of this would have happened and I wouldn't be looking at possible disbarment.”

“Can't,” the former ADA said. “Suffice to say we weren't happy about it but it came from above and there was nothing I could do about it.”

Then Barba rolled his eyes.

“And listen. If I didn't get disbarred after being charged with murder, you're not going to be.”

“You have no idea what I did. Not just now, but over the last year. All because you couldn't own up and tell Liv how you feel about her before you left.”

“You have no idea how I feel about _Olivia_ ,” Barba snapped. “Just tell me what happened.”

By this time they had reached Barba's hotel. He checked in while Stone parked the car then texted him his room number. When he opened the door to admit the younger man, Barba had shed his suit jacket and tie and was in vest and shirtsleeves. He also held a glass in his hand, filled with ice and scotch.

“I had them send it up. Help yourself.”

He raised his glass and then indicated the open bottle on a nearby table where an ice bucket and a second glass stood. Stone poured a shot's worth and knocked it back, then added some ice and more of the amber liquid courage. Then he started at the beginning, telling Barba what had transpired from when they’d heard Miller was released from custody, through the discovery of Lindsey Parker’s body in the Hudson and Miller’s threats against Olivia and Noah. When he got to the part about how Miller had managed to manipulate electronic records at Noah’s school to show that it appeared she had authorized uniformed officers to pick him up, Barba’s hand tightened on his glass. He didn’t like Miller harassing the leader of SVU but he knew she could handle herself as much as he wanted to protect her. But the thought that he even threatened to put Noah in jeopardy made his blood boil. He prompted Stone to move on to the fabricated evidence. He didn’t want to dwell on thoughts of the curly haired boy that was the center of Olivia’s world.

“So you decided to frame him?”

“Yes. We, no, I knew it was the only way to link him to the parties with the girls and Lindsey Parker,” Stone said.

“$9500 is a lot money. You just have that laying around? And sit down. You pace like Carisi when you’re agitated.”

After Stone’s call that afternoon, Barba had looked into what he’d said and knew about the deposit into Brooke Davis’ account and the falsified GPS records the man had presented as evidence in court but he needed to hear for himself what had been done. Stone sank down into the chair opposite Barba with a sigh.

“It was insurance money from my sister,” he said. There had actually been more than that, but Stone wasn’t going to share what he had done with the rest of it. Then a thought occurred to him. “You’re not recording this are you? I know the feds like to do that.”

Barba gave him a withering look and pulled his phone from his pocket, tossing it onto the table beside the ice bucket. The movement woke it up and Stone saw the lock screen photo was one of Olivia and Noah before Barba snatched it back, unlocked it and showed him no recording apps were in use.

“Of course not. Why the hell do you think I told you to stop talking on the phone today? Who do you think gave me that phone? I don’t know if the calls are recorded but better safe than sorry.”

He made a circular motion with his hand.

“Keep going.”

Stone detailed how he got Nikki to make the deposit for him and how they used a mid-level dealer to get on surveillance outside Miller’s club to make it look like he’d been there to meet with him. Barba asked how Fin, Carisi and Rollins got involved and he said it they volunteered to help their lieutenant. Stone emphasized they did it on their own, without pressure by him. That wasn’t something he needed to sell Barba on. He knew that Olivia’s sergeant and detectives were as loyal to her as the day was long and would do about anything for her.

“It would have worked too, if fucking Beigel hadn’t called Nikki to the stand,” Stone said, reaching to refill his glass. “I promised her I wouldn’t make her testify against Miller but then he went and did it.”

“Did you not think Miller was having her followed? From what I’ve learned about him and what you’ve said, he clearly has eyes all over the city.”

“I anticipated that and that’s why I took my cross with her to the fact that she tried to set him up because she was afraid. Everyone knew what he did to her. I knew that the deposit was more likely to be discovered as fake than the GPS records,” Stone explained.

“You seem to have had all your bases covered. And they found him guilty of Lindsey’s murder in the end. So what happened?”

“Olivia Benson happened. Dammit, Rafael, you weren’t kidding when you told me how she -- what was the word you said you used?”

“Weaseled?”

“Right. Weaseled. She weasels her way into your life. Although I feel like it’s more like one of those worms people get under their skin on those terrible reality medical shows. You don’t know it’s there until you start feeling funny and acting like a different person because she makes you look at things differently.”

“She certainly does.”

“I don’t know how you did it for six years, but I can’t do it anymore. I got too invested. I can’t look at things objectively anymore. And I sure as hell can’t keep protecting her. What if it hadn’t worked? What if they’d found him not guilty? He’d be out there right now, plotting his next move against her.”

“He’s probably still doing that from his cell at Rikers,” Barba said. “Listen, I have four weeks to figure out what I’m going to do. Give me that, can you? Don’t send that letter to McCoy just yet.”

He stood from his chair.

“Now go home and get some sleep. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

Stone drained the last of his glass and rose to his feet. He was steady on them but knew he’d be taking a cab back to his apartment nonetheless. A DUI charge was the last thing he needed right now.

“I haven’t slept since I took this job,” he said.

Barba walked him to the door and clapped him on the shoulder.

“I know,” he replied with a small smile, then added. “Please don’t tell anyone I’m here. I need to decide how I’m going to break that news.”

Stone nodded. “I won’t say a word. I’m sure Liv’s not talking to me right now anyway.”

Barba closed the hotel room door behind the younger man and slid the deadbolt closed. Then he went through the motions of preparing for bed himself, although he knew sleep would be evasive again that night. He turned the television on for quiet background noise before turning off the lights and climbing between the crisp clean sheets. Bending an arm and putting it between his head and the pillow, Rafael stared at the ceiling and thought about how he and Jack McCoy’s hot shot from Chicago who prosecuted him for murder had ended up unusual allies.


End file.
